'04 Sport - Front Diff cracked - Death Valley and Dedecker Canyon off road

[CapnLogan]

Hey folks,

I took my '04 Liberty Sport in to Saline Valley (inside Death Valley) for the weekend... We went in through north pass and blazed the trail through 3 feet of snow for the first time this season. After coming out of the mountains and rolling through the valley to our camping spot, I ended up cracking open my front differential case on a huge rock and it leaked almost all of the oil out while we camped the weekend.

We ended up trying to seal up the part with some liquid metal, and then wrapping it in duct tape to keep in whatever oil might have been left since the front diff continues spinning regardless of 4wd or not. This held up for a little while but it ended up cracking back open after a couple hours on the trails again.

I ended up getting it out of the valley using only RWD and got it through Steele Pass and Dedecker Canyon with no issues (youtube dedecker canyon - you'll be shocked), and then drove it about 400 miles up to San Jose, CA. There was some light rattling on the drive home, but no grinding noises, no smell, no smoke, nothing.

I need to find a replacement part, and I think my friend and I can do the labor ourselves, but I wanted to know if anyhone here had any wisdom to share with this kind of stuff, or if anyone would like to ask my about my adventure.

Where can I find a cheap part? Any online sites that might have one salvaged?

 

[speedracerbubba]

There's a place behind the capital drive in that might have a liberty. Lkq I believe. They have an eBay store and a website but the website only works for their contact info. I have called pick and pull a couple times and they never have a liberty.
Good luck

edit- just checked lkqs website (parts searcher works now) and they do not have a front diff. I'm not aware of any yards in the area that have libertys. I've seen them in rancho cordova but that's a bit far.

 

[tommudd]

Did you pull the front driveshaft and CVs if so you would not of had to worry about driving it.

Finding a front diff can be kind of hard to do in some areas it seems, that's why I try and keep a spare laying in the garage.
Not that hard to swap one out, if you read the manual it will scare you , but there are some tricks so you don't have to do as much
always want to have spares ready for action

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[jramey]

More costly than you may want but jeepinbyal makes a real nice steel replacement for the front diff, you wouldn't have to worry about it cracking as easy as the aluminum stock one can.

 

[LibertyTC]

Sounds like some skid plates should be on order!

 

[bugnout]

You sure you cracked it on a rock? If it split from the drive shaft forward from back to front, its probably another case of grenading. Easy to do, just get one wheel spinning.

If your going to keep the KJ, then the steel diff is the way to go, if not, just find a used one, shouldn't be more than a couple of hundred from a wrecking yard.

 

[CapnLogan]

Hey folks thanks for your responses. I still haven't fixed the front diff and I had a couple of questions for you.

My old man is a Chrysler dealer back in the midwest and his parts department found me a replacement diff casing and gears at a junk yard but the gear ratio is different. Apparently my 5 speed manual 4 cyl is a rare combo... anyhow, the casing is the same but the internal gears are different, so essentially I'd have to swap out the guts of the two parts and then install it.

I have two main questions: 1) I drove about 400 miles home from death valley with the front diff casing cracked and there was some rattling... are the internal gears probably ***** now? There fore requiring a new, correct part altogether? (much more expensive this way)

2) Is this something that I could most likely accomplish on my own? I'm very amateur at vehicle repair, but I can follow directions very well and was an aircraft mechanic for 5 years in the air force. Is this a rather technical operation and would i be best off finding a mechanic to perform this task?

Thanks for the advice folks. It means a lot.

adam

 

[CapnLogan]

Clearing up something

Just to help out - the part I cracked was the axle housing:
http://tinyurl.com/473ef5c part #3 right at the choke point, 360 degrees around where the post section fits right up to the main housing.


Here's some linkes to my photobucket - i took some pictures. You'll notice we attempted a quick repair just to get out of death valley using some liquid metal.

It's been about 3 weeks and there's still oil coming out of the part so this makes me confident that the gears inside should still be in good condition.

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[CapnLogan]

Well it's been about a year now... haven't found a part yet but haven't been looking really...

I've got some cash set aside for the repair... I'd like to avoid ordering a brand new part. Any advice? 4:10 ratio seems like it's impossible to find. Incredibly frustrated.

 

[tommudd]

Just get a front diff and install 4.10s in it, not a big deal at all. You will have to have a shop set the gears up for you but otherwise not a big deal